Pennsylvania State Education Association

Opting out is extremely unusual in Pennsylvania: Only 260 out of about 932,000 students were excused from the math and reading PSSAs last year; an even lower number opted out of the science exam, according to the state Education Department.

A suburban Philadelphia school system that threatened to shut down due to lack of funds should be able to stay open if a third party oversees the district’s financial operations for the rest of the academic year, state education officials say.